Liffe Information

LIFFE - the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange - provides a range of products designed to help you manage equity investment risk - and to exploit it too. As such, LIFFE offers a gateway to a world of investment possibilities far beyond the simple "buy at a given price, then hold or sell" type of investment, such as shares. An Exchange brings together different parties wishing to buy and sell financial products - such as financial institutions, corporations, commercial investors as well as private individuals. LIFFE was set up in 1982. Following mergers with the London Traded Options Market (LTOM) and the London Commodity Exchange (LCE), LIFFE added equity options and a range of soft and agricultural commodity products to its existing financial portfolio. Trading on LIFFE was originally conducted by what's known as "open outcry". Traders would physically meet in the Exchange building to transact their business. Each product was traded in a designated area called a pit, where traders would stand and signal or shout the price at which they were willing to buy or sell. In 1998 LIFFE embarked on a programme to transfer all of its futures and options from the traditional method of trading to an electronic platform known as LIFFE CONNECT. This transition is now complete, The distribution of LIFFE CONNECT stand at around 450 sites, more than any other electronic trading system in the world, and covers all major time zones.